Pulling an Annabeth
by AlyNC96
Summary: Aphrodite decides to meddle in the love lives of campers, wanting them all to hook up based on Annabeth's habit of kissing her man just before he runs odd to do something dumb, but, in the long run, heroic. What could go wrong the 2nd and 3rd time, right? I'm currently taking paring suggestions. R&R! Thanks :
1. How it all began

**Author's Note: Ok, super quick! Everyone who is anyone knows that, the one and only, Annabeth Chase has a small habit of kissing the great Percy Jackson just before he runs off to do something, dumb, dangerous, and ultimately heroic. What everyone doesn't know is that Aphrodite decided that all Camp Half Blood couples should get together this way because it is, to use her words, "super mega adorable" and "romance-alicious". I sincerely hope, as head scribe for translating this project, you enjoy reading about Lady Aphrodite's meddling *thunder rolls in the distance*… Oh, excuse me, her "assistance" in young couple's love lives. Thank you **

**~AlyNC96**

Pulling an Annabeth ~ How it all originally started

Aphrodite's PoV

I sat in my diamond studded thrown in beautiful Olympus thoroughly depressed. I shouldn't I be depressed. I'm a goddess; I can have everything and anything that I want with a simple wave of my hand. Depression shouldn't even be in my vocabulary. What a gross feeling.

I was watching the magical, movie theater screen sized, window to Camp Half Blood when I decided the tragedy was official. How do demigods live in lives so void of love and romance? All they do is work, train, and eat carbs all day long. Gross.

Besides my children, being good examples as always, no one is having anything to do with love. And there is so much potential!

Why can't they all be as daring and beautiful like Percabeth? Now _there's _a couple! Everything was fuzzy and confusing at first because they had no idea what was going on, and then forbidden because of a long time parental feud, then, even better than that, she loved another man; a traitor no less! But true love prevails through ALL! And they lived happily ever after . *dramatic sigh* Why can't there be more Precabeth in the world?

I was reminiscing in the brilliance of Annabeth and Percy's first kiss in that one volcano on that one quest, when I had my amazing idea. You have to admit that that kiss is simply inspiring, if nothing else. Right before something was bound to go wrong, right as the chance that the heroic duo would never see each other again was the highest, true love worked its magic and boom Percabeth was born… Well, on the inside at least.

It brings happy tears to my eyes every time! Everyone should have an experience as magical and wonderful and irresistibly adorable as that!

And there is my light bulb moment.

It would be a dream come true, for all parties involved. All I have to do, as the goddess of love, is make it happen. What mortals don't know is, a person's true feelings for someone are always in them, from the moment they set eyes on the "one". All I have to do is give these feelings a little encouragement, a small helpful nudge in the right direction…..

I spied in the magic window a pair chatting in the woods. Oh, a mid night rendezvous! How cute! Feeling were already in place! This shouldn't be hard at all...

**Athour's Note: If anyone has a couple request I am taking them ;) Thank you much!**


	2. Tratie

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used in the story except Jake. He belongs to me.**

Pulling an Annabeth ~ Tratie

We weren't always us, we didn't always get along, and we weren't always happy together, but we are now and this is how it started.3

Katie's PoV 

"Travis!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was looking for that idiot to finally figure out what his problem was.

How did I know it was him? Who else lights _any_ cabin roof on fire, with Greek fire no less, let alone mine? And even if it wasn't him personally, I had rationalized that he would/ should and/ or could sill be held responsible for this, no doubt, Hermes "prank". He is one of the counselors after all.

I marched from the strawberry fields toward the Hermes cabin absolutely furious at the world. I guess I should have been helping my half brothers and sisters, and well the rest of camp really, save my cabin, but this was just as important!

_Why Travis? Connor is a counselor too,_ something in the back of my head whispered. I knew that voice. It was the voice that made me stumble through my actions and fumble over my words. It was the voice that I'd grown to hate ever since it began, non stop, talking about Travis in a... less than annoyed way.

I shoved the thought to the back of my mind where it belonged. _Because!_ I mentally shouted back. _Travis was just the first name to pop into my head is all..._

"STOLL!" I yelled as I beat on the cabin door. I waited a nano second before I flung open the door. Deserted; as far as either of the Stoll brothers went. Of course.

Not going down without a fight, I called for them anyway, "Stoll!" The few other kids slumming around just looked at me like I had lost my mind. "Where are they?" One boy just pointed behind me with a 'Duh' look on his face. I whirlled around in a furry and bumped into a very solid chest.

I looked up to see Travis Stoll an inch from my face. " Yes, dearest? You called?" I started to pull away from him but changed my mind and shoved him away from me instead.

He stumbled ever so gracefully backwards and I got right back in his face, "This is all your fault!"

His already stupid- looking face made an even stupider look of confusion. "Whaa...?"

I cut him off before he could finish, "Don't you 'what?' me! You know exactly what's going on! Do you think I'm that stupid? That I wouldn't know it was you?"

I blew up in his face and now, looking back on it, I couldn't have been more glad that I did.

Travis' PoV 

I just kind of stood there listening to Katie Gardener jump down my throat about ... something. I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying. I don't normally do. It's an ADHD thing. Sue me.

I started thinking that, you know, if Katie didn't yell at me all the time I just might enjoy the sound of her voice. It's the same with her face. If, whenever I saw her, it wasn't red with rage, turned up with discust, or twisted in anger and/or hatred it might be ... attractive.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Why in the gods names was I thinking this way?

Katie shoved me again, still ranting. "Look at what you've done!" she yelled.

I finally came to my senses and turned around. The Demeter cabin was in the process of burning to the ground.

I recognized the Greek fire immediately along with every camper who cared trying to put it out. It wasn't going to work and, I'm sure, they knew it, but they had to stop it from spreading and destroying the entire camp.

_Oh Shit! _The realization hit me hard. Katie thought I did this. "Oh shit! Katie, I didn't..." Too late. Katie shoved past me and was running back to her cabin to help. I followed her. I had too.

Why? ... Good question ...

Looking back on it, I guess that somehow I knew this really was my fault.

Katie's PoV

That's it. Why even try? He can't even look me in the eyes and face the truth. I couldn't stand there anymore. Yelling at him was no use; he was never going to realize how much he hurt me. I should be spending my energy doing more important things. So I ran as fast as I could manage to help save my cabin.

_Damn, that idiot followed me._

My eyes stung and were clouded with tears now. This was my _home_ that I was watching burn to the ground in front of me. The only place I called home anyway. He knew that. He's known me forever and a day and he goes and pulls something like this.

That thought was the last straw. Tears ran down my cheeks and made it impossible to sprint the way I was doing. I could hear Travis behind me, calling, begging for me.

_Damn it, he's gonna catch me._

I stumbled and braced myself for the landing. Two strong arms caught me, stood my up right, and spun me around to face the one and only Travis Stoll.

"Katie. Please. I didn't..."

"Liar!" I shouted at him with everything I had and I just let the tears pour.

Travis' PoV

"How dare you! You liar! How could you do this to me? How could you lie about this? _This?_" Katie was sobbing, breaking down, in front of me.

I'd only ever personally seen her like this one time; when her father passed away.

I'd known Katie my whole life, even growing up. She spent a whole afternoon in the Hermes Cabin before she was claimed my second year at camp and we kind of clicked; like we were always destined to be frienemes.

Sometimes we were friends and other times she hated me. Sometimes we told each other every thing and others she hated me. She yelled at me a lot and hated me just as much. She hated me, but I don't think I can say I ever truely, honestly hated her.

I knew about all of her life ups and downs. I knew about that jerk of a mortal she dated in middle school. He was her everything and he cheated on her the summer between Middle school and High school... the same summer her dad passed. I knew about her father's battle with cancer and her step mother's ultimate rejection of her after he died causing her to become a year round camper. I knew about her problems fitting in and adjusting to camp life. I knew about all of the ups and downs that she faced and yet still ccontributed to the downs. And for what?

_Her attention._ This voice, somewhere in the back of my head, answered me ... ... ... ... I hate it when my voices are right.

"I can't believe you! You are a lot of things, Travis; selfish, arrogant, brainless, but just plain evil, I always thought was a stretch. My cabin is ruined and it's all your...!"

If I had to hear her blame me for something that wasn't my fault one more time I was going to lose my mind. That was the moment that I truely realized just _how much_ I really cared about Katie Gardener. No matter what anyone said I cared about her more than anything.

I pulled her into a hug to make her stop yelling at me. My head fell right on top of her head of soft brown curls, a fit that I enjoy very much. To my surprize and I'm sure hers as well, Katie hugged me back and continued to cry into my t-shirt.

"Katie please... please. I didn't do it," I whispered softly in her ear and pour my heart and soul into those words and hoped to every divine diety above that she believed me.

Katie's PoV

"I'm so sorry." Wow. WOW. That, my friends, is a first. In all my years of knowing Travis Stoll has never appologized for anything. In his briliant philosophy, appologizing is the equivalent of admitting you did it, which, when you're trying to get away with something, dosen't help.

But he appologized to me.

...

He didn't even do it but he appologized to me.

...

Wow.

Something was obviously happening here and, ever so sadly, was inturupted. My half sister, Miranda, ran up to us in a panic. She had tears streaming down her face and was blubbering distraughtly.

"Miranda, calm down. Slow down. What's wrong?"

The poor girl had to gasp in between her sobs, "Jake is!... Kaite, Jake was!... Jake is still in there!" She fell to pieces again sobbing.

Jake was one of the youngest kids in the whole camp, aging up to about 5. He was new and had really taken to Miranda and I. He was the best thing on the face of the planet to me. He reminded me of all the wonderful, innocent, and precious things in life, which was a breath of fresh air after a war that could have ended life as we know it.

Jake was a hard worker, but being so young he sometimes had to stop working in the strawberry fields to rest. I don't know how many times we found him asleep in the cabin. I, personally, don't remember authorizing Jake's nap today but Miranda must have and forgot to tell me.

"Oh my gods! Jake!" I couldn't believe sweet little Jake to be hurt, I wasn't going to let it be true. I began to run towards my cabin, ready to risk my life to save my little brother.

Travis pulled me by my upper arm and grabbed me by my shoulders, "No, you jerk! His gonna get hurt! I've got to help him!"

"Katie, let me do this." Travis looked as serious as I have ever seen him look... ever.

"What? Travis, no! What are you? Crazy?"

"Yes! Please. Let me."

I'd never seen Travis this way before... ever. There was that little click again. I realized how much Travis cared and... I loved that. He was gonna risk his life for my little brother; for me.

I kissed him. I never thought it would ever be something I would ever do, but I did it. I kissed him and watched as he turned around and ran into my burning cabin.

Traivs' PoV

There was no way in the whole wide world that I was going to let Katie run into a burning building. I thought she was awesome for wanting to save her brother but it wasn't happening. Period.

I offered to save Jake mostly to prove that I was sorry. Whether Katie took it as an apology for her cabin or for everything I'd ever done was up to her. Saving Jake was kind of a bonus.

And then she kissed me. Hoe. Lee. Cow! Hahahaha! Yes! This is the best thing ever. I love this chick ... ... I love her.

And now I might die trying to save her brother ... ... Damn it.

Unfortunately, I stopped kissing Katie and, before I could second guess myself, ran into the burning cabin.

I regretted it immediately. I couldn't breathe or see. The smoke and heat made it impossible. Instantly I was sweating like a pig. Walking any where was going to be a pain.

Just my luck, a ceiling beam chose the same moment I decided to cross the room to collapse in front of me.

"Jake!" Calling for the little guy before I plunged into flames seemed smart.

No answer. Oh shit.

I began to attempt to, more or less carefully, maneuver the flaming beam and wasn't making much progress. Its not like I could touch the thing. Jumping over it wasn't going to happen and going under it was dangerous as walking through Hades.

"Jake! Where are you, Dude?"

_Shit, what was that?_

A cough? A moan? A cry for help? A final breath? It was something and it came from the back of the cabin. _Just great._

I love how adrenaline can make you do awesome stuff that you wouldn't be able to do on a regular basis because I got over that beam and, to this day, I am not sure how.

I could see where book shelves and desks had fallen and could hear glass under my feet from where flower pots had spontaneously combusted. The smoke inched its way into my throat and eyes making me cough and my eyes water and the task of seeing even harder. I pulled the collar of my T-shirt up over my mouth and forged ahead while the grass-dirt roof came crumbling down on top of me.

Fire was unavoidable. The hair on my arms and legs were already seared off and I could feel my skin heaten to unimaginal degrees. I thought I was on fire. I felt like I was on fire. The ADHD part of me wanted to freak out because I was _freaking on fire_, but my demigod part was in control and trying to save a little kid.

I kept stumbiling around trying to follow the sound that came and went a good minute ago. When did this cabin get so big? Or did it only feel so big because everywhere I was Jake was not?

If you start asking yourself questions, then you know for a fact that you are thinking to way much. I knew my time was limited. If I felt like shit, Jake must feel freaking _horrible._

"Jake!" Another pathetic little sound, but this one sounded so close; like it was coming from right under me.

I dropped to my hands and knees and my lungs breathed an almost-kind of-sort of-thank you. Most of the smoke had risen, like smoke usually does, so the air near the floor was less crappy to breathe. My hands sliced open from shards of glass, but my lungs were kind of better.

I crawled across the floor and felt around for Jake. I wasn't long before I found him semi-conscious on the floor. I grabbed the kid, threw him over my shoulder, and got the hell out of there.

Katie's PoV

Minutes flew by like days; fast but so slow. It wasn't long until doubt creeped into every fiber of my being. Then a support beam for the dirt ceiling caved in and I thought I might have bit my tougne off holding back my scream.

I was sure as hell glad that I kissed Travis when I had the chance because I was sure that it wasn't going to happen again.

So sure, in fact, that when Travis came barreling out of my cabin and I almost died. I didn't know whether to be relieved that they were both conscious and breathing or to cry because they were both on fire.

Travis looked like a god carring Jake and he looked _awful. _His clothes, his hair, his everything was burnt, seared, and blacked. Jake was five times worse just from looking at a distance.

Miranda screamed and people gasped, but everything seemed so far away. I ran to Travis and took Jake into my arms. I knelt down and laid Jake's head in my lap. Travis collapsed next to me.

"Travis?" I sobbed. I must have looked horrible, crying this whole time. He didn't answer me but I could see his chest rise and fall steadily. Jake wasn't so lucky.

I can't describe what he looked like up close. His body was covered in burns and his clothes were virtually non-existant. This was to much for me to handle. I didn't know how to help him. I didn't even know if he was breathing. What the hell was I supposed to do? I had no idea in the world. In a moment of panic and complete madness, I resorted to the weakest, most cowardly form of trying to save the life of someone you deeply care about; I screamed for all I was worth.

"Jake? Jake!" I shook the poor, broken child viciously, trying desperately to wake him. "Somebody help! What are you all standing there for!" The world around me had stopped completely. I was screaming and crying for help, trying to save my little brother and everyone was just standing there doing nothing.

Someone pulled me away from him. An Apollo member with medicine. Thank the gods. I sobbed and fought the healer though. Looking back it is completely undoubted by a team of profesionals (Travis and I), that I was delirious and didn't want to leave him because something told me Jake was going to die.

I was out of my mind officailly. Jake was gone and no one was helping him and everything was wrong. It's not supposed to end like this; not for Jake. He's never done anything to anybody and this wasn't supposed to happen.

I hit my knees. I've only ever had this much of a reason to pray one other time in my life and it didn't work then... This was my last chance. What else was I supposed to do?

"Demeter above, please! This is your son! Mother, have mercy!"

It was like nothing I have ever seen before or will ever see again.

Suddenly, the sky opened up, there was a roll of thunder, and it began to rain crystals. Or what looked like crystals. It was the most captivating sight that I have ever seen. I stood there and watched the grass turn greener, the leaves and trees look fuller, the dirt get browner, and, best of all, the Greek fire fizzle away and, as if that wasn't amazing enough, my cabin restore itself. The beads cascaded themselves over the whole camp and enhanced the beauty of whatever they touched. This was nothing like a normal rain shower, and yet the falling gems soaked into the ground like it was an act that happened everyday.

Everyone gasped in amazement and let this blessing pour down on us. This is more than I could have ever, ever hoped for, let alone had the nerve to pray for.

Travis had somehow managed to stand and find me. His mere intake of breath at the sight of the rain was enough to get my attention. I turned to him and my jaw hit the floor. He was perfect; his hair, clothes, and skin. He was perfect and breathing and walking and living and I loved him.

I kissed him with everything I had, just to prove it. I didn't ever want to stop when he decided to kiss me back, but the thought of Jake smacked me across the face. If Travis was perfect, then what did Jake look like?

I pulled away from Travis and ran to where Jake was laying in the grass. He was surrounded by Apollo healers so I pushed them all aside. The moment I saw him I collapsed in happiness. Jake was better than perfect. His skin looked as smooth as porcelain. His hair was shaggy, brown, and slightly curly, like most Demeter kids. His eyes were shut and he was breathing heavily... like he was still asleep. Jake was the beautiful little angel that arrived at the begining of the summer.

Around us, life went on. My brothers and sisters went into the new cabin to make themselves at home. Other campers went on with there lives after the crystal rain stopped. The Apollo healers gave us some space. But I was lost in this moment of happiness, that one of the most precious things in the world would remain precious.

"Jake?" I didn't want to wake him up, but I had to reassure my overactive, ADHD imagination.

His little eyes fluttered open and he smiled, "Kate?"

"Yeah, buddy," I said softly. "You sleep ok?"

Jake nodded, yawned, and reached for me. I scooped him up, sat him on my hip and went on with my life too.

Jake was ok. The cabin was ok. Camp didn't burn to the ground. Life went on as planned and soon the fire was a distant memory. A memory that neither Travis nor I ever decided to share with little Jake.

Travis is currently one of the silliest, weirdest, bestest things that has ever come into my life and one of the few that has chosen to stay. I love everything about him, which I know is really Aphrodite-daughter of me to say, but it's true. I love most of all that I can refer to us as 'us'. I can only hope that Travis and I will be 'us' for a long time. 3

Life has been good to us and we don't take it for granted anymore. We have an apartment in Manhattan that we share with his brother. I have a job as a flowerist, Travis is working an office job (surprising, right?), and we are as of a few months ago expecting a baby... a baby Jake. 3


	3. Liper

**Author's Note: I would like to start off by saying this wasn't a couple I would usually ship. That is my basically my excuse if it stinks. Lol. I wrote this upon request from a Looney - Lightning - Lion. Thank you very much for the request and the reveiw :-) I owe you for introducing me to the world of Leo and Piper, you and other fics have inspired me :-) Enjoy!**

**~ AlyNC96**

Pulling an Annabeth ~ LeoxPiper

Piper's PoV

I was almost regretting stealing that BMW; almost.

By this point the Wilderness School was officially the worst place in the entire universe. Discusting food, wretched dorms, horrible "activities" and infuriating people. We got up at zero dark thirty every morning and were tortured from then on. Long days and short nights and lots and lots of exhausting physical activity, but what would happen today would make it all... bearable some how.

We were all crowded into a tin roofed lean-to that stuck out of the back of the gym. Coach Hedge was currently yelling at us, over the noise of the pouring rain, giving us instructions on today's "activity". A partner obstical course.

Of course the second he said 'partner' the rest of the delinquents started buzzing, making this announcement semi-officially over.

_So what if we missed important information, right? I have a BFF trifecta to split up. _I shook my head and sighed. There was no question they all belonged here.

Hedge said something about being timed and there being a reward... Oh well, those losers are screwed.

I laughed to myself and turned to find Leo. Picking a partner was always simple when you only had one friend to chose from.

I found him floating around toward the back of the mass fiddleing with something, as usual.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, I hope you were listening 'cause I missed it completely."

"Of course."

"Hey, only on porpose right?," he said with a sideways grin. There it was: the Leo Valdez original. I swear, one day he will be famous for that smirk. It had 'I'm up to no good' writen all over it. When he smiled that way his whole being light up, not just his face. You could tell, from the tips of his curlly hair to the ends of his toes, he was up to something.

Leo is always so lost in what ever he was doing that everything else around him was irrelevant. Leo's an odd one, but he's talented. _You've got to admire that kind of passion, _something whispered in the back of my mind.

Sure, I agreed, but not today. I took what ever it was that he was working on away from him and made him look at me. "We are partners in this obstical course thingy, right?"

"The one day that it rains in the middle of the dessert and Hedge wants us outside?" he whinned. _At least he didn't say no, what would you do without him? _There it was again; that voice I couldn't place.

I started to shrug when Coach Hedge started up again, "Alright cupcakes! Let's get moving. Remember you both have to finish the course and cross the line together. I don't care how you do it, but the first team to get it done gets to sleep in during fundementals in the morning."

He blew his whistle and we all began to head out into the rain.

Leo's PoV

So this shouldn't be very hard, right? We're forced into this obsticle course all the time.

... We've never had to have someone's back before though, and the stakes of winning we never this high, as Piper kept reminding me on our way over to the beggining of the course.

"That's an hour and a half of more sleep! That's an hour and a half of less torture!" Nothing like a reward to pep everyone up. Kids were running toward the starting line and others were complaining that their hair was officially ruined because of the rain.

I was taking my time and laughing at Piper who was dancing around excitedly. Her day went from 0 to 10 plus with 6 whole words. _She is so confident_. As Coach lined us up and scribbled down the groups, she looked at me and said, "Look, we're not the fastest, but we've got each other's backs and that's what this is supposed to be about, right?"

I just nodded. Her mocha colored hair was plastered to her face and she was soaked through already, but some how she managed to look wonderful. All she ever had to do was just stand there; no matter what she wore, how she did her hair, she couldn't go wrong. Piper always looked like a million bucks. _I swear she leaves me speechless sometimes._

I immediately shook my head. Since when did anyone leave _me _speechless? Where did that come from?

"So is it a yes or a no, Valdez?" she laughed.

I smiled at her, "We've got this, _chica_."

Hedge flipped on his mega phone, "Ok cupcakes! You've all seen this course before, but never in the rain. Dosen't it look fun?"

Cue annoying teenage groaning. It didn't look fun. Not at all. Sand and dirt are one thing. Mud and water is pretty different.

"Well, there are a couple new surprizes out there. You have officially been warned; no one get your panties in a twist." Everyone, even the jocks, started to groan. They new this like the back of their hand. Surprizes were no fun.

"The winning team, need I remind you, gets to sleep in tomorrow, but you have to cross the finish line To. Geth. Er." He punctuated the word stressing its importance; 'cause, ya know, hologans need to know about these kinds of things since our futures constist of shoplifting and high jacking cars.

We all cheered. This was going to be awesome if we won. And if we didn't it was going to suck majorly, but hey if we won...

One second I'm daydreaming about extra sleep and the next I'm being forcefully pulled out La La land. Piper was pulling me forward with the rest of our class.

Piper's PoV

We all ran 150 yards, the length and a half of a football field, just to reach the first obstical. This, the running, was what would make or break some people. It wasn't that the obsticles were impossibly difficult, it was that, after this, most of the other obsticles had some 50 to 75 yards between them.

Leo and I sprinted for all we were worth and ended up in a pretty good spot. Basically, everyone behind us could be counted out completely, it was the jocks and juicers we had to worry about. I slowed down while Leo plowed a head of me. I was hurting now; sprinting is so much harder than it looks.

"Leo," I called, completely out of breath. He saw me struggling. If I stopped now we would be too far behind. He made a blind grab for my hand and all but threw me over the first obstical.

Horizontal telephone stood just tall enough for track stars to _not _be able to use them as hurtles, but that ment they were much too tall for the vertically challenged.

I watched as Leo used his hand to pop up and vault his legs over the pole and join me on the other side.

"One down, 14 more to go." he said to me, "and we've gotta go."

He spun me around and I saw what he ment. Other teams were getting father and father ahead of us. I froze. Where was I? What's going on again? We are going to lose. I could feel even the strongest fibers of my being wiggle like jello.

I felt myself be hoisted up over the second pole. "We've got to move Piper! We can do this! You can so this!" Leo shouted to me over the rain and I snapped back into place. My extra sleep was on the line here! What was I just standing here for?

We bested the rest of the poles with ease, but we weren't quite fast enough. Five other teams were at or on their way to the second obstical by the time we began to run that way.

The wall was next. A 10 foot tall, wooden wall was planted in our path. It had several ropes to help you get up and down the other side, but that was it. The rain made it slick and 4 teams were still struggling with it while the 5th stood at the top.

As we approached the wall, Leo stopped me. "Look. What the hell?"

Leo's PoV

"He's cutting the ropes!" Piper caught on before I did.

I knew that kid. Blake Mata. He was a thief and could get his hands on a lot of things. He was bragging a few weeks ago about how he'd broken into Hedge's office and taken back the pocket knife Hedge confiscated from him. I figured Hedge found him with it again. Apparently not.

Pretty boy Dylan stood next to him laughing. He probably convinced him to do it. Blake wasn't very smart.

I stood in the rain clenching my fists. Man, this crap made me mad. I felt my body temperature rise. The air around me suddenly became more humid than usual. I was close to losing control. _Deep breaths, _I told myself. This couldn't happen, not today.

I turned to Piper. "Give it back." I stuck out my hand. I wouldn't have been surprised if she flinched away from me, but she didn't. She dug into her pocket, understanding me perfectly, and handed me the sling shot I was working on earlier.

"What is it?" She asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

"You'll see," I couldn't help but shoot her a sly smile. If nothing else, this was one thing I could be proud of.

She nodded and ran toward the wall, knowing I would catch up with her sooner or later.

I bent down and picked up hand full of wet sand and crushed it in my still warm fist. It solidified better than I hoped it would. I loaded my sling shot, pulled back the rubberbands, and let the homemade rock fly.

Without bothering to watch, I ran to the wall. Whether the rock hit him or not, Blake was so startled by something he fell off the top of the wall and Dylan jumped down with him.

When I had arrived, Piper was having a shoving fight with the guy next to her on the wall. They were only like 6 feet up so I grabbed the end of his rope and shook him around a little bit.

"Yo, dude. Respect the lady!"

"Make me, loser!"

Way to go, man. I was already tempted to punch you in the face. Thanks for the invitation.

I jumped up onto the rope on the other side of him and swung myself into him. The ropes, being completely soaked, were hard to keep a grip on so we both slid down a little bit, but he couldn't catch back up with Piper and I let alone mess with her again.

"Thanks," she said when we were out of his reach.

"No problem, _chica_." I called up to her. I kept slipping on the slick wood. My cheap, worn, crappy shoes didn't have any traction on them.

When Piper got to the top of the wall, she pulled me up with her and nearly slipped off of the other side. I pulled her back to me and was suddenly very aware of how close we were to each other.

Standing at the top of a 2 foot thick wall didn't give you a whole lot of opportunity to move.

Piper's kaleidoscope colored eyes were trained on me and I couldn't breath. They flickered back and forth between my eyes, changing colors softly as they went; yellow peppered in and some blue and green here and there. _Absolutely beautiful..._

Not only was I very aware of her and all her glory, but also of myself in all of my... not so glory. What in the world was I thinking? I was standing in the rain, soaked and up to my knees in mud. I must have looked like an idiot and she would have been one too if she was thinking _anything _along the lines of what I was thinking. Piper is _way_ to good for some werido like me. Where was all of this coming from?

As much as I thought she would, she didn't pull away from me entirely. She grabbed my hand, spun around to stand next to me, and we jumped.

Piper's PoV

Don't mess this up. Don't mess this up. Do _not _mess this up. Leo is your friend. You got that? Your _frrrieeeeenduh_.

_Then why does his hand fit so perfectly in yours? Why hasn't your heart stopped pounding yet? Don't you enjoy being close to him?_

God damn you, brain! Unanswered questions bounced off the walls of my skull, ranting at me, encouraging me to mess things up.

Forget about it, I told myself. We've got a race to win. I turned away from him and jumped off of the wall and ran to the next obstical... all while holding his hand.

It didn't take long to find surprise number one. The whole section where it was placed used to be where we would all sprint for our lives. That was a good sign right? At least we knew that there was going to be a little less running involved today...

The surprise itself towered above us. It consisted of metal pipes supended stories above the ground and looked like a Leo tinkering fail, up close and personal, magnifyed by 10,000, large and most definatley in charge. I looked over at Leo hoping he had some idea of how we were going to do this.

"Let's just wing it and see what happens," he said with a half shrug.

Great. Not exactly the advice I was hoping for , but something I could most deffinatly work with. _This is why you two make such a good pair... _Oh, go away.

"Leo, you know if we fall we're not gonna get to sleep in, right?"

"Sure we will. In the nurse's office for, uh, a lot more than fundementals." His face conveyed everything I was feeling, anxiety and horror, but his voice was level and he approached the contraption anyway.

_How brave, _the voice in my head swooned. It sounded kind of similar to me, but it wasn't _me_. Leo is my friend, and this voice needed to learn that. I wasn't feeling good about Hedges first surprise and she wasn't helping at all. I tried to out on a brave face, like Leo, but this contraption was really tall...

"Just follow me and try not to fall."

"No wait, you go behind me and catch me if I fall... ... Please?" I begged. We didn't really have time to debate the issue so I took his silence and slightly odd look as a yes, knowing I would feel better with him there for me.

Leo's PoV

The look that Piper gave me, asking me to have her back, to catch her if she falls, made me want to melt into my shoes.

Since when do people willingly put there lives in my hands? We were going to be at the very least 2 stories up and she wanted me to follow her?

I mean, yeah, I'd follow Piper in to World War 3 if she asked me too, especially if she looked at me like she did just then, but ... Uhg. I don't know. The feeling I got in the very pit of my stomach made me want to blow chucks, but I also felt as if I could've run a marathon... if that makes an sence at all.

Piper hopped up onto the horzontal telephone pole that stood in front of us and I hopped up next to her. Two more led us, like a broken, distanced stair case, up to great metal sewage pipe. Piper jumped the last 3 feet and my life flashed before my eyes. Well, my life with Piper anyway.

The pipe wiggled and wobbled freely under her causing her to nearly slip off the edge. God, if she fell and got hurt I would never forgive myself. We weren't even that far off the ground yet! And here I was, wetting myself, because Piper was apparently going to fall to her immediate death 10 to 12 feet off the ground. Get a grip, man. Since when do you act like such a girl?

I was worked up about how in the hell I was supposed to spend the rest of my life without Piper. I couldn't imagine my life being nearly as bearable or generally happy without her in it._ 'No Piper' and 'happy' didn't quite fit together in the same sentence. I wanted it to always be Piper and I... _Thoughts like that floated in the back of my mind and made me lose my focus. Now I'm thinking like a chick too.

I wanted to turn and go back down the way we came and sprint it, _that's _what I wanted. That is what used to be here before they placed this contraption in our path anyway. Hedge wouldn't have a problem with that, would he? We could make it with no problem, just like any other time we have been forced in to doing this.

"Piper, please!" I called to her. "You'll fall!" I tried to convince her that it would be best to simply walk away now, that we couldn't do this.

"No, Leo. I'm already here! Your wasting time, let's go." Why did she have to be so stubborn about this?

I jumped and joined her on the extremely large sewage pipe. It shook and swayed, only being suspended by some industrial sized wires from scafalding high above our heads. This is where I realized it wasn't one long sewage pipe, but several 12 foot sections of pipe with 3 foot gaps in between. They were hung all hung at an angle leading up to a small platform at the end.

As we both struggled to regain our balance, Piper pulled me closer to her, "The cameras." she said quietly.

It then dawned on me that her stubborness maked sence. She didn't want to risk the fact the Hedge might not have been ok with us passing up his little surprise. I wasn't thinking clearly enough to have recalled the cameras put into place to make sure that we finished all of the obsticals, thanks to my brains new chick development.

The pipes were wide enough to stand on, but very slippery. Standing and balancing was almost as dangerous as actually trying to walk across them. Piper led the way and I put my hands on her waist to balance her. At first I felt a little self conscious about it. What if this wasn't ok?

We did a weird type of slow motion, slip and slide conga line to the other end of our massive, horrifying balance beam. I was really sweating this. I could catch Piper, but if I fell out from behind her, I would definatly take her with me. Even if she knew this would more than likely be true, her hands still found a place covering mine and I didn't feel so worried anymore.

She only let go to make the 3 foot step/ jump to the next pipe, I followed and, once we reagained our balance and resumed our conga position, we started off again. As we clanged around on top of this pipe, I noticed it didn't wiggle as much.

As we neared the end of this section, Piper spoke up. "Check it out." Another student was poking their head out of the pipe and trying to reach across to the next one.

At first I was like, Why didn't we think of that? And then I realized what a hard time he was having and decided this was somehow faster.

We stepped over someones head as we got to the next, and the next, and the next pipe. "I wonder how many groups we've passed?"

"Hard to tell," Piper said completely focused. She looked like G. I. Jane or Army Barbie; totally hardcore at the moment, but in a really pretty way. "Let's just keep going," she decided, but all that was left of this obstical to slide down on a 2 story firefighters pole on the platform.

Piper's PoV

We hit the ground relieved that surprise number one was officially over. Leo knelt and stage kissed the ground and I was relaxed enough to laugh with him. _He could make light of anything._

Up next was the rope wall... net wall... whatever you want to call it. Its the same concept as the first wall we bested, but not nearly as stable. If I didn't know for a fact there were cameras watching us, I would have gone around it. This was just dumb. All it was there for was to eat up some more of our time, but it was easy enough.

We ran and ran and kept running. I. hate. running. stepstepstepstepstepstep. There was no break in the flow to stop and take a breath and that bothered me. The stitch in my side screamed at me. My feet protested. This was better than when the 'surprises' weren't in pace, but honestly, I was so done with that course and it was only half over.

We came up on our next obstical, the moat. A huge ditch was dug in our path; 20 feet across with a single rope to swing yourself across suspended from the middle. Usually the moat was bone dry and if you fell it was no big deal, today with the rain it looked a little more interesting.

Leo and I came up behind another group. If it wasn't for her boyfriend standing on the other side, I wouldn't have recognized my own room mate with how soaked and dirt covered she was.

We watched as Ciara Martin swung her way across the moat. "Nice. Let's go," greeted her boyfriend as he took off again. I could tell she was about to do the same so I took my chance.

"Ciara!" I called with despreation . This chick likely starved herself and I didn't have faith enough that the rope would swing all the way back to me on her momentum alone.

Let's just say the look she gave me wasn't necessarily pleasant. It was obvious we weren't friends in the least, but I hoped to convey a pleading face. All she had to do was make sure the rope got back to me. I never asked her for anything... Well except to get out of the bathroom...

With a moments pause Ciara thankfully decided to give the rope an extra uumpf and it flew into my hands. I passed it off to Leo, who was very much enjoying his rest despite its shortness.

He found his way across with ease and I followed in a matter of seconds. I stopped to wonder how anyone behind us was going to get the rope now. The other groups would have to walk across the ditch if someone didn't come along soon.

"Let's go Piper."

"But..."

"I know, I know, but we have to go. Don't forget about your beauty sleep." He tugged at my hand and I reluctantly followed him releasing the rope.

_Does he really think I need beauty sleep?_

It wasn't long at all until we found the next surprise. It was zip line type thing. You held on to one bar and pushed yourself off. When we got to the top of the stairs it was only about 60 yards long, at a downward angle. It should be the easiest thing we've done during this whole course.

"I'll go first," I said. This was a piece of cake.

"Ahh.. what if you fall? These things are slick," Leo expressed his concern, pointing to the bars. There were enough for each student. The metal was indeed slick from the rain, and we were soaked too. It's not like we had anything to wipe them down with.

"We don't really have a choice... Uh.. What are you doing?"

Leo's PoV

I took off my shirt... What _was _I doing?

_Protecting her_..._ in your own way._

I rung my shirt out as quickly as I could and grabbed for Piper's hands. They were so warm. _I could hold them here forever._

I looked up at her as I wrapped my shirt around her hands. Her eyes conveyed confussion mixed with humor and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Would you trust me for once." I spun her around and looped the shirt around the first bar in the row. "If you ever got hurt, I don't know what I'd do with myself."

I couldn't help but notice how nicely we kind of... fit together. Her back was to me and I was again made very aware of how close we were. God, why do I think these things? Honestly, dude?

"I never said I didn't, you know." Piper looked back up at me with her ever changing eyes and I thought my heart was going to stop. Either that or jump out if my throat. _God, I could kiss you..._

Wait, what? I laughed out loud to keep from doing something I was sure that I would regret. "Ready?" I asked.

"As I will ever be." She gave me one last glance, looked me right in the eyes...

I allowed her a second to take a deep breath and gave her a little shove off of the edge of the platform. I wish...Uhg, I don't know what I wish. I just... I don't know. Forget it.

I followed Piper as quickly as possible. The only problem with this whole plan of mine, was that now I had no extra grip and I was really cold. Other than that the whole ride down was a lot of fun.

When my feet hit the ground on the other end of our zip line, Piper was there waiting on me.

"Hey, hot stuff," she says. "You might need this." She handed me my shirt back and looked me in the eyes again. What was this, though? The way she looked at me, it was different... A good different.

Piper's PoV

Hot stuff? Seriously? What was I thinking? I mean, seriously?

What's wrong with my brain today? I swear, I don't normally think this way about the only friend I have. This was just... I have know clue what this is.

Leo threw his shirt on and we took off toward the army crawl station. It was as basic as posible really; Crawl under the ropes and try not to touch them.

"How many groups are in front of us?" I asked him, trying so hard to change the subject and find a new topic.

"We'll figure it out here, I'm sure."

This looked revolting. Army crawling in the desert sucks bad enough as it is. You end up with sand in places sand should never be.

This though, this looked 10 times worse. I hesitated. I mean I like being up to my elbows in wet sand just as much as the next girl... ...I guess that's my problem.

"Don't make me," I muttered. I reached back for Leo's arm...

He wasn't there. Leo hit the ground and took off. Uhg, seriously?

"C'mon," he called. "We'll pass them!"

Now I saw it. Two other teams were stuck in the mud and Leo just threw himself into it. If they got stuck, how were we going to pass them?

Whatever! *plop*... Oh yuck! *spit* ... So help me God, if it ever rains in this desert again! ... Uhg, I don't want to... Your extra sleep is on the line here, woman! Move your butt! ... *sigh*

Soon I was pulling ahead of Leo, but he was busy ruffing it up with Ciara's boyfriend. This was where things got vocal. With the two boys yelling at each other, Ciara joined in.

"Leave him alone," She screamed to her boyfriend. "Let's just go!"

This was a really low blow, but I grabbed a fist full of Leo's currly brown hair and yanked at him. "Drop it, Leo! Good God!"

Leo yelped, Ciara moved to tend to her boyfriend, and I went forward.

I felt really bad afterward but that was one team down. We were that much closer.

"Are you kidding me?" Leo complained.

"Look, I'm sorry but seriously? Was that necessary?"

We were doing well. The army crawl is all in the knees, or at least that's what I was doing. Looking back, I feel like we both kind of flopped around like fish or something, but the more we flopped that better at it we where. I'm sure you could tell neither of us really paid attention in fundementals.

After 50 yards of wallowing in mud, Leo and I emerged from the pit and got a good look at each other. There wasn't an inch on either of our bodies that wasn't covered in mud. I couldn't help but laugh, we looked terrible.

Was it worth it you ask?

Of course it was! All we had to do was run after this. This was it, the home stretch.

We could see a single person jogging up ahead. Who ever they were we passed them easily. I wondered out loud where there partner was.

"Not everyone can have someone as awesome as your partner, Piper." Leo shot me a sideways grin. _God, the look on his face... _

Leo wasn't always good at self confidence, I'd seen him on a bad day, but he could mask anything with that smile. _I mean, I'd never realized how much that smile got to me; that gorgeous, infuriating, ever so tempting smile..._

Today there was nothing to mask though. We would win. I had confidence enough for both of us and I was sure he did too.

From where we stood aproaching the last surprise on our way to the finish line, it seemed like nothing more than a long divider that would seperarte us up to the very end of the course. It made sence now, why we absolutely _had _to finish together.

We stepped up to the begining of the end and then I saw it. It took me a second to register that it was there, but as soon as my eyes came into focus I didn't have any doubts.

_Leo's PoV_

"What the hell is that?" Piper's eyes were trained on the sky. She slowed to a stop and looked scared out of her mind.

"What are you talking about?" I followed the finger she had pointed at the sky on the right side of the divider.

I don't know how to describe what I saw, all I know is that it wasn't there a second before and I probably wouldn't have noticed it if Piper didn't point it out.

It was almost like a gigantic piece of ice, if pieces of ice had arms and legs and could move freely like a person can.

"Oh," was the ingeinus thing that came out of my mouth.

Piper looked at me with panic in her eyes and etched all over her face. "What is that thing?" Her voice dropped to a whisper as if she was afraid "that thing" would hear us.

"I'll go that way." Making a quick decision. I tried to make my voice sound as calm as possible, since she was standing there breaking out over this. Don't get me wrong I was crapping my pants, but I told her I wouldn't see her get hurt and I meant it.

"Are you insane?!" She shouted.

"Call me Crazy." I did my best to mask my inner thoughts with a smooth sly smile; flash her my best Valdez grin. "Look, it doesn't seem all that dangerous. The dude is just kind of standing there..."

As I said this the ice thing lifted a ice club and smooshed the fence at about the half way mark. _Yikes_.

"That just showed up! Out of flippin' no where, ok? You can't possibly..."

"Well, you can't either! Just go, I'll be fine. I promise." I meant it and I hoped she knew that.

Piper's PoV

Oh this is crazy! This is crazy! Oh my god this is CRAZY!

Leo was willing to face this ... ice... thing for me, or rather so I didn't have to. What is wrong with him?

_Ahhh! _I was screaming in my head; screaming at that.. thing, screaming at Leo, and screaming at myself. This is crazy!

"Well, you can't either," he interrupted me. "I promise," he finished. _Uhhhrrg!_

"Ok, ok. Ok, I'm going to keep my hand on the fence." The barrier between us was simple metal fencing covered on both sides with black mesh fabric like the kind that companies would put up around construction sites in public places.

"Ok. See? Its all good." He matched his hand with mine on the other side. I could barely feel it. _Ahhh_!

I grabbed him back and hugged him as hard as I could. This was crazy!

I took a step back and looked at him. There he was in all his glory, covered in sand and mud, looking down at me with that silly smile I just wanted to smack right off of his face. He honestly frustrates me to no end. I love him and I hate him. What the hell, dude? What is wrong with your brain? I wanted to shake him, to grap him an shake some energy into him. Instead, I put my hands on either side of his face before he could walk away and kissed him.

It wasn't a long kiss but it wasn't terribly short. He was so much warmer than I expected him to be too. I was frozen from the wind and the rain and kissing him was like coming back to life. He didn't embrace me, but he didn't push me away. He didn't kiss me back but he didn't... not kiss me back. It was right though; it felt right. To me, it was like thanking him for everything he'd done to keep me safe today even if I wasn't in any danger in the first place. I hoped he felt that way too.

He just kind of turned and walked away after that and I found his hand on the other side of the fence when I decided that I should do the same.

Leo's Pov

Dear God above, In case you didn't notice, Piper kissed me... What? Thanks, Leo Valdez

Ok, this was going to take me second... or a minute... or an hour...

What? I mean the kiss itself was... nice. I'm not sure what I expected because I never expected Piper McLean to kiss me. Ever. After a while, I felt really stupid. I didn't even know if I'd kissed her back or not, I just kind of stood there like an idiot. And I think I pulled away first too. Crap. What if she thinks I didn't want her to kiss me? Did I want her to kiss me?

My mind was buzzing, thinking about how badly I might have messed up back there, as I jogged to my maybe, possibly, hopefully not, death by ice monster thing. I almost hoped that it would bonk me on the head, just so I didn't have to face Piper in case I did mess everything up.

The closer I got to the ice thing, the harder it was to see. The monster almost seemed transparent after a while, which was weird... ... As if it being in the middle of our obstical course in the first place wasn't.

As I approached the ice monster, I could also feel a sever drop in temperature. I wondered if Piper could feel it tool. Her hand pressed harder through the fence, but she still didn't say anything...

This thing was ugly too. I don't know why I would think a giant ice beast isn't attractive, but, hey, that's my opinion. Maybe if it had actual facial features and wasn't swing a club several times the size of my body I would feel better about the big guy. It may not have been there earlier, but it most definatly was now.

I was hoping to just scoot around it unnoticed. This didn't have to be a big deal right? I wasn't going to hurt it. Even if I wanted to, I didn't think it was even remotely possible.

I was close enough to touch the ice monster and it hadn't noticed me yet. Well, maybe it did and I just couldn't tell because like I said, no facial features.

Anyway, I was close enough to touch it and suddenly there was a flash of light that blinded me for a moment. There was no boom or crack, just the light, and for some half instinctual reason this made me nervous to open my eyes.

"Leo?" I heard Piper's voice. I opened my eyes and looked the direction of her voice only to see the black veiled fence.

"Yeah," I whispered (don't ask me why).

I looked to my right and saw that the ice thing was gone. It hadn't faded from my view or anything. No matter what angle I looked for it, I couldn't find the ice giant. It was gone for good.

I thanked God in the same kind of manner I thanked him for Piper's kiss: What? This is so freaking confussing. What do you say to this? Thanks, Leo Valdez

"I'm good Piper. It's all good. We've got a race to win."

I was confident enough to sprint ahead as long as I could feel Piper's hand on mine, as long as I could hear her footsteps echoing mine. We both relaxed enough to talk to each other too.

" Would... you ... slowdownalready!" Piper shouted at me between breaths.

"There's no point! We're done!"

Piper's PoV

We were done! Oh my gosh, we were done! I felt like I could fly! I felt like I could turn back and beat up that ice thing for getting in Leo's way!

I was so happy, I didn't realize we had come in second. We crossed the finish line together no doubt about it, but there were four other people standing there watching for us... I was so sure we would win.

"Crap," Leo said. We really did lose. Did we really? We were so good, though...

It took me a second to realize that one of those people was Coach Hedge and the another was the partner of that single jogger we passed, so they didn't count.

The only other complete team that was there was Blake and Dylan. As Leo and I approached we could here them arguing about whether they had won or not.

"We won! We crossed the line together!" Dylan was shouting. If there was one thing I knew about this kid, it was that he liked things to go his way and if they didn't no one was going to be happy.

"Sure you did, but you were both supposed to split up, you know, that's what the fence was for," Coach Hedge sassed Dylan just as much as Dylan sassed him.

"You don't understand," Dylan tried to explain. "There was this big thing, this massive, frozen man..."

"Mata, did you see anything?"

Blake shook his head. He looked at Dylan like he was completely crazy and back at Coach and shook his head again.

"Alright then. You, pretty boy, are getting drug tested this afternoon." Coach jabbed a finger at Dylan's nose and turned and finally noticed us for the first time.

"Congrats, you too. The rest of the evening is free rein for you. See you cupcakes at 7 tomorrow morning in the mess hall for breakfast."

"We did it," I looked at Leo with relief. It felt like the world was lifted from my shoulders. "Ahhhhhhh!" I screamed out loud this time and threw my arms around Leo's neck in an excited hug.

Leo laughed out loud. I was so happy. He was so happy. It was all so perfect. He picked me up by the waist and spun me around, _like a chessey 80's movie.._

"Was there ever any doubt? I told you we would win."

"I told _you _we would we."

"Mmm, that's not the way I remember it, _hermasa_." Leo shot me his winning smile and offered me his arm.

I linked mine arm in his and we walked off of the course, and headed toward the dormitories, "Yea, well that's how it happened."


End file.
